For Sale: Factory 1977 BMW 320 Group 5
Images and history via Duncan Hamilton ROFGO
This Group 5 BMW 320 is one of five cars built by BMW Motorsport GmbH for their junior driver project in 1977. Over the course of a near two decade career, it raced in the World Sportscar Championship, DRM and more. It’s up for sale at Duncan Hamilton ROFGO.
The car, chassis E21-R1-17, was built by BMW Motorsport in 1977. Concrete history of its 1977 season is not available, but it’s understood to have been one of the ‘junior’ team cars. At the end of 1977 it was sold to Gustav Fischer, who would take it into Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) competition in 1978.
Fischer did not find the success he sought in the car, and ended up selling it to Gerd Reiss, who continued to campaign it in DRM. From Reiss it went to Kenneth Leim, who entered it into the World Sportscar Championship in 1982. Leim would race at Monza, Silverstone, the Nürburgring, Spa Francorchamps and Mugello with Kurt Simonsen as his co-pilot.
Following that season the car returned to Leim’s home country of Sweden, where it was bought by Kurt Simonsen’s son Christer Simonsen. Christer then ran it in the Nordic Special Saloon Championship all the way through to the end of 1985.
The BMW’s impressive motorsport career continued in the hands of Finland’s Eero Vesenterä, who ran it in that same series in ’87 and ’88, as well as John K. Westman, who did so until the early ’90s.
In 1996, Alex Elliott bought the car in near-complete condition, sans one important element – its engine. The car remained in that state until 2011, when its current owner bought it and undertook a restoration to its 1977 factory specification.
That restoration took three years and was carried out by Tony Hansford and H-Engineering, sourcing a correct two-litre M12 race engine for the car and following a Group 5 BMW 320 housed by the factory BMW Museum to ensure everything was as it should be.
Race ready and complete with new FIA HTP, the car will be sold with a racing spares package that includes an extra set of wheels complete with tyres for wet races, four-speed gearbox and an iron Le Mans differential, with the five-speed box and period magnesium diff currently on the car.
If you’re looking for that special something to give the historic racer in your life this Christmas, this is it. See the Duncan Hamilton ROFGO website here for the full details.
Images and history via Duncan Hamilton ROFGO
